Articles

Recent Labor News from On-Line Sources

Thursday, Jul 29, 2010

July 28, 2010 – Wall Street Journal – Public Employees Get More Benefits – “88% of state and local government workers had access to employer-sponsored medical plans, compared with 71% of private-sector workers . . . more generous provision of benefits, especially retirement benefits, is a compensation for lower pay . . . Businesses paid 70% of [health] premiums, while governments paid 73%” [This is only for the employers who actually offer health plans.  The figures are from the Federal department of Labor.  We hope critics of the public sector read and understand the trade-offs discussed at length.]

July 28, 2010 – Los Angeles Times – Schwarzeneggar to Order More Furloughs for State Workers – “200,000 state workers would be subject to the mandatory days off . . . exempting the union bargaining units that have negotiated rollbacks of future pensions” [These types of results in other jurisdictions encourage and enable City negotiators.  The Governor continues to attack workers because he can and uses them in an attempt to strong-arm the legislature.]

July 28, 2010 – The State Worker – Eight Departments Exempt From Schwarzeneggar’s Furloughs – “issued a new executive order that requires state employees take three furlough days per month until lawmakers enact a 2010-11 budget” [The moves of furloughing all except those in certain departments parallels the approach of the City of Los Angeles.]

July 27, 2010 – Los Angeles Times – What Labor May Like Best About Brown: He’s Not Whitman – “Unions are indeed reaching deep into their pockets to help Brown . . . how much return they will get . . . is unclear . . . Brown supports the givebacks that Gov. Schwarzeneggar wants from public employee unions . . . Brown has expressed "deep reservations" about a labor-backed ballot initiative . . . Brown has pledged not to raise taxes without voter approval . . . [boasted he] vetoed raises for state workers and supported limits on public employee pensions . . . [he says he will] carefully weigh the needs of state and local workers with the available money” [Even staunch Democrats recognize that this is a changed environment for public employees.]

July 27, 2010 – NUHW – Nurses Picket Kaiser Over Patient Safety – “Hundreds of registered nurses at Kaiser Los Angeles . . . Nurses voted by more than 98% to hold today’s picket after recent “sentinel events” at the hospital were reported” [Some of the conditions reported in this article are appalling (like 18 hour shifts) and cannot be helping patient care.  If you see them picketing, honk your support!]

July 18, 2010 – Los Angeles Times – Municipalities Take Aim at Public Pensions – “Saddled with policies adopted when times were good . . . losing billions of dollars in recession-wracked investments . . . negotiations are aimed at creating less expensive retirement arrangements for future employees” [But of course, those same officials will do as they have in the past by using the municipalities’ pension payments for other purposes during future good times, setting the pension plans up for repeat of the current problems.]